Noise of Communication

The process of transmitting and receiving verbal and nonverbal messages is called communication. In simple words, communication is a two way process of exchanging information or ideas. Here we should note that communication will be effective only if the sender receives desired response or reaction from the receiver. But there are various factors which cause miscommunication between sender and receiver of message. These factors are known as barriers or noise of communication.

Noise refers to the stimulus which influences the ability of communicator to understand. It has great influence on the interpretation of conversations. Noise can be divided into three categories.

External

This type of noise is created by the external factors and has great influence on the communication. The sound of vehicles, machines, people, music, etc distracts the receiver of message which results in the miscommunication. For example if a person receives a phone call in a public place, there is a higher chance that he may not fully grasp the message of sender because of external noise. Some of the important external factors of noise are sights, textures, smells, environment, sounds etc.

Internal

Noise may be created by the internal factors such as perception, attitude, personality, culture, physical health etc. These factors can influence the ability of receiver to understand the message of sender effectively. For example if a student is attending a lecture and at the same time he is thinking about the football match then in such case thinking is internal factor of noise which distracts the student to pay his attention to the lecture. Other types of noise are feeling ill or tired, stereotypes, biases, reputations etc.

Semantic

If the receiver does not understand the language used by the sender of message or if the sender uses various jargons which the receiver does not understand then such type of noise is considered as semantic. In such type of communication sender and receiver do not have shared meaning in communication. In many cases, the professionals such as businessmen, accountants, lawyers, doctors etc use terminologies which are not understandable by layman.